Echo Team: Part 1
"The Brotherhood of Evil is toast, we're finally back in the tower, and the GameStation XL3 has just been delivered with a free copy of Evil Ninja Monkeys 2! Life is good!" Cyborg, along with the rest of the Titans were incredibly happy to be back home. "I might order pizza, anyone want any?" Asked Robin. "Vegetarian for me!" yelled Beast Boy exitedly. "Meatlovers, Robin!" yelled Cyborg from the couch, with Beast Boy beside him. "Meatlovers?! DUDE, I HAVE BEEN MOST OF THOSE ANIMALS!" yelled Beast Boy now angered. " You can't order that!" "I can and I did! Now pipe down, and play Evil Ninja Monkeys 2 with me!" "Oh Robin?" Starfire floated into the room. "I would be grateful if you could order me the Hawaiian Pizza, but please I would like it to be covered in sweet chilli sauce, mint chocolate and sprinkled with the berries of razz." Starfire beemed as the entire room fell absolutely silent. "Why don't you just order the Supreme, Starfire and you can top it with-" "Glarrschnarrk pudding!" Starfire cut into Raven's sentence. Robin dialed the pizza delivery service as Cyborg and Beast Boy played the new GameStation. "BOO YA! I won, I won." Cyborg celebrated standing on the couch. "Hey no fair! You hacked the game!" Beast Boy protested his defeat. "You saying I cheated B? I was just using my strengths. You're the one using your eight tentacles to play!" "I wasn't cheating, just using my strengths," mimicked Beast Boy. The two then pounced at each other a began to brawl. They both rolled of the couch and hit the brand new GameStation. Then the TV blacked out. "Good one Cy, now look what you've done!" "Me! THAT WAS YOU!" Yelled Cyborg, with Starfire cowering in fear behind the couch. "Your, ergh GameStation is not harmed." A mysterious voice came from the TV. "That was me." "Cyborg, enhance that signal!" Cyborg ran to the main computer, pressed some buttons and the TV picture went from black to a picture of an older man, with white hair and a suit. "Hi, I'm Robin, and this is Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg. Who are you?" "I am Walter Dalno, Minister for Defence, Australia. I am afraid we need your help." "How can we help?" asked Robin. "A criminal organisation known as Incendous have been pulling off organised crime sprees for years. It is only recently they have become a national threat. Incendous have designed and built robotic drones which are storming the city streets and harming the innocent. We need your help Titans." "We'll get there as soon as we can. But first I need to know how bad the situation is." "Well, ugh. We expect to loose the entire state of NSW within the month if we keep loosing like we are." At this the entire team gasped. "Don't worry Minister, we're on our way." Robin ended the video call. "The entire state, within a month?" Cyborg was still dumbfounded. "Robin, I think we may be a little bit out of our depth here. It would be us five, against an entire army." Raven argued her point, but Robin was smiling. "Who said it would be only us five?" Robin responded. "Cyborg and Raven, ready the T-Ship. Starfire, activate the security locks, and Beast Boy, um, clean up the lounge room. I have to make a call. Titans, move!" Cyborg and Raven ran through the door, Starfire moved to the tower Control Pad, Beast Boy cursed Robin under his breath, and Robin connected his T-Communicator into the Main Computer. The communicator flashed a few times and the large TV screen activated. "This is Robin, calling all Titans!" There was no response for a while, then a reconisable female voice could be heard. "Titans East, online," replied Bumblebee, leader of Titans East. "What's up Spikey?" "Melvin, Timmy, Teether, and Bobby, here." "Impulse, active" "Bushido, present." "Herald, responding." "Hotspot, here." "Arrowette, call acknowledged." "Jinx and Kid Flash, now recieving you." "Argent here. Is Aero there?" "Vox, checking in" "Thunder and Lighting, loud and clear." "Pantha, I'm in the middle of a, UGH, match. This bet- HIYAH!- better be important." "Risk, present" All the other Honorary Titans responded and then two more signals appeared. A guitar strum from Jericho, and a grunt from Wildebeast. "Alright Titans, we are needed immediately. Pack what you think you will need and activate your homing beacons on your communicator. Titans East and North will be picking you up from your current locations and from there we are going to Australia," Robin informed the Titans. Various cries of joy came from the communicator. "Robin, is Aero there?" The question came from Argent, an Honarary Titan. "Sorry Argent. I don't know who Aero is." Over the intercom came a message from Cyborg. "Yo, Robin, the T-Ship is ready for take off." "Okay, Titans, go!" Robin, Beast Boy and Starfire ran out the door and down a few flights of stairs to the T-Ship Deployment Room. They ran across the walkway and took their spots in the T-Ship. "Thermal boosters online," announced Raven. "Communication systems, active," stated Beast Boy. "Missle deployment capsules, ready," Starfire called over the headsets. "And the hydrolic stabelizers are running smoothly!" Cyborg grinned. "Alright Titans. Launch!" At Robin's command the T-Ship slowly rose from the ground, turned and shot up through the launch tunnel and out above the Titans Tower. A button next to Beast Boy was flashing. "Um, Robin? There is someone at the front door of the tower." Beast Boy was uncertain as to who it was. "Cyborg, bring the ship down to hover mode and pull down the cargo bay ramp." The orders reached Cyborg who followed them immediately. The T-Ship was now hovering just over a metre off the ground, and the grass below it was shaking violently from the energy discharge of the ship. There sure enough, outside the tower was a boy, about Robin's height standing outside the tower. "Beast Boy, activate the exterior speakers." The speakers switched on an Robin spoke through them. "Are you Aero?" The boy nodded. "Climb aboard the cargo bay ramp." The ship rotated and the ramp descended. He climbed aboard and the T-Ship took off again, with the ramp folding back into its original position. Robin's seat descended out of its pod and he walked to the boy. "So who are you?" Robin inquired and the boy looked up at him. "My name is Chris Gallagn, I go by the alias of Aero though. Argent sent me to you, said I might be able to help you." "She was right, we need all the help we can get. We're off to Australia now and we're picking up some other Titans along the way, Argent is actually one of them. So just sit back here Aero, if you need anything, give us a shout." With that Robin sat in his chair and it raised up into his pod. "Oh Robin! Do we have a new friend sitting in the bay of cargo?" Starfire was incredibly excited. "I hope so Star, I hope so." After a few hours, most of the Honorary Titans scheduled to be picked up had been. Aero now sat amongst heroes such as Hot Spot, Wildebeest, Pantha, Bobby, Teether, Timmy and Melvin. A female archer had climbed aboard a few minutes after, she went by the name of Arrowette. Aero and Arrowette spoke to each other about their lives as crime fighters, and they got on quite well. Robin’s voice came over the intercom. “Attention Titans, we are around thirty minutes away from Sydney, we have one more Titan to pick up along the way.” Aero’s eyes lit up. It has to be Argent! Ten minutes past and the Honorary Titans could feel the ship lowering beneath them. The cargo bay ramp descended and Aero looked out at the world outside. It was beautiful, mountains and long, endless grassy fields lay before him. Snow tipped the very tops of the mountains, and beneath them stood a large dam, which he could see had been damaged and repaired. At the foot of the ramp stood a girl, around fourteen in age, with pale skin and black hair and red streaks. Argent walked up the ramp and spoke in her British accent. “So Aero, I can see you found Robin and the Titans!” Aero jumped out of his seat and the two hugged each other. Arrowette got up and walked over to the two. “Who is this?” Argent had a hint of annoyance in her voice. “Argent, this is Arrowette, Arrowette, this is Argent.” “Please, call me Cissy,” Arrowette offered her free hand, and Argent took it and shook. “Argent and I have been friends for years,” said Aero. “We met back in 2003, I was crime fighting and had some trouble with a group of enemies, and Argent happened to be passing by and helped me out!” Arrowette looked at the both for a few seconds. “So you two are together?” She based her information on their body movements and the way they spoke. “No,” Argent spat out. “Us, together?” Aero laughed. “Yeah, funny.” Argent just managed a smile, but Arrowette could see a small ounce of pain in her eyes. The ship was moving again, and the three friends took their seats. The rest of the trip took only ten minutes, and as they prepared to land, the ship rocked violently. “Incoming fire. Cyborg, activate rebulsive stabilizers!” The Honorary Titans could here the Titan’s conversation over the intercom. “Agh, I’m trying. Damn it, they’re jammed!” Cyborg yelled in reply. “Robin, airborne projectiles, incoming!” Raven’s voice was altogether calm. “Oh this is worse than the Ceremony of Tentaculae Fralobnorf,” cried Starfire. “Beast Boy, activate shielding systems!” Robin ordered. “Yes sir! Wait! They’re offline! ” Beast Boy sunk into his chair. “Robin, projectiles only one hundred metres away, and closing!” Even Raven’s voice was starting to quiver. “I never got to say good bye to Silky! And now I am going to die!” Beast Boy cried over the intercom. The Honorary Titans in the cargo bay were looking worried also. “No one is dying today,” Arrowette spoke through the intercom and jumped out of her seat, ran to a lever near the ramp and pulled it down. The ramp descended and Arrowette turned to the Titans. “Hotspot, Aero, Argent, we have to stop those projectiles or the whole ship will go up in smoke. Follow me!” Arrowette jumped off of the ramp and fell out of sight. “You heard her Titans, let’s go!” Aero jumped out after her, with Argent following and Hotspot behind her. Aero, Argent and Hotspot fell through the clouds with arms and legs outstretched, and beneath them they could see small rocket like objects flying towards them. Arrowette had her bow in one hand, firing arrows with the other. Each and every one of her energy arrows hit their target and destroyed it. Hotspot powered up and started blasting balls of fire down onto the missiles, and Argent was using her red energy waves to blow up the missiles before they hit the T-Ship. Aero was gliding about, redirecting one missile into another. “Everyone! Fall back!” Arrowette called out to Hotspot, Aero and Argent. Hotspot grabbed Aero and propelled fire from his feet to rocket them both upwards, and Argent floated above. Arrowette took an arrow in her hands, pulled it into her bow and held it there for a few seconds. The yellow tip of the arrow started to glow red, and Arrowette released it. The arrow whirred down into the wave of oncoming missiles, and hit just one. The arrow and missile exploded, causing a chain reaction that blew up every other missile in the sky. But Arrowette was in the middle of the explosion, and she could not fly, what had become of her? Then the sound of a rocket came from below, and out of the smoke came Arrowette riding the very last missile. She held on and steered it so it went right above the T-Ship, then she let go and fired an arrow into it. Arrowette landed on the roof of the ship as the last missile exploded above her. Beneath her feet was Robin’s cockpit. “So,” she said. “Are we there yet?” Argent flew up onto the cargo ramp, followed by Hotspot carrying Aero. Arrowette climbed over the back of the T-Ship and jumped onto the ramp. As it closed, Melvin jumped out of her seat. “That was so cool!” she screamed with excitement. “You were like,” she made explosion sounds with her mouth, “and he was like, HIYAH!” The four Titans walked back to their seats and sat down smiling. “Nice work kids,” complimented Pantha. “I couldn’t have done it better myself.” Wildebeest grunted and Timmy and Teether smiled and laughed. Robin’s voice came over the intercom. “Well, ugh. Well done, I guess. That was really, very impressive! We are about to land, and the shields are activated”- “Not that we need them after that performance!” Beast Boy sounded like he was jumping in his seat. “Thankyou Beast Boy. We just got word from the Minister for Defence that the Incendous Drones we are up against are hammering down hard on the streets. As soon as we land we’ll be under heavy fire. Raven will stay with Melvin, Timmy and Teether, while the rest of us go on to meet up with Titans East. We are going to need cover fire to get to Titans East’s landing spot, so Arrowette, Hotspot and Cyborg will take position in or around the T-Ship and attack the enemy from a ranged distance. Pantha, Bobby and Wildebeest, you two are on the front lines with Beast Boy. Everyone, get ready.” The T-Ship slowed, and the Honorary Titans could hear the landing gear lowering, felt a slight thud and the cargo bay ramp started to lower. As it lowered the Honorary Titans could see a large city street, the T-Ship landed in the middle of it. Covering the city streets were countless robotic drones, all ready to attack the Titans. “Titans! GO!” Robin yelled out of the intercom as he jumped out of the top of the T-Ship, followed by Cyborg, Beast Boy and Starfire. Raven however lowered her pod to the cargo bay and used her powers to bring up a force field around the ship. Bobby, Pantha and Wildebeest ran out of the T-Ship next to Beast Boy who morphed into an elephant. The four charged out into the crowd of Incendous Drones before them. Arrowette, Cyborg and Hotspot ran to the cargo bay entrance, and fired out upon their enemies. There must have been fifty drones out there. Argent and Aero were next to run out of the T-Ship, meeting Robin and Starfire in the battlefield. The oncoming energy blasts from the drones were stopped by Raven’s force field. After a few minutes of battle, Arrowette left her post at the T-Ship ramp and jumped into battle. She was able to rip apart the drones using her bow alone as a weapon along side her martial arts skills. Cyborg joined her in battle, as did Hotspot. Raven also made her way out of the T-Ship, now shrouding her and the kids beneath it. Robin was fighting a done, into which he planted a disc grenade. The drone exploded and using the power of the blast he flew almost five metres, before landing in front of another drone, which hit Robin to the ground and raised its arm to fire. Quicker than lighting, Arrowette drew and arrow, pulled it into her bow, and released it. The bow hit the drone in its robotic chest, and it fell to the floor. “Thanks Arrowette, I owe you one,” said Robin, as he climbed to his feet. “Actually, you owe me two, after I saved the T-Ship before.” Arrowette stared down Robin, and then the two burst out into laughter. Raven disabled her force field and pointed to the sky. “Here comes Titans East!” Above there was a blue version of the T-Ship slowly coming in to land. From behind the group, Wildebeest started grunting and yelling. Everyone turned to see what he was yelling about. There coming down upon them was at least one hundred missiles. Raven flew up into the sky and yelled out, “Azarath, Metrion, ZYNTHOS!” A great shadow pulled itself over all of the Honorary Titans and the Titans East T-Ship. The missiles crashed down on Raven’s force field and each one exploded. Raven’s concentration failed and she fell to the floor, caught by Beast Boy. There were still forty missiles nearing the huddled group when a blue coloured magnetic pulse blasted through the area. As the pulse passed through the missiles they blew up, still one hundred metres away. Titans East had landed and was leaving their ship, as the producer of the pulse walked out of the shadows of a nearby alleyway. “Mento!” yelled Beast Boy as the Doom Patrol climbed out of the alleyway’s shadows. “What are you doing here?” asked Robin as the team approached the crowd of heroes. “Well Robin, you helped us once before, and now it’s our turn to repay the favour.” Mento and Robin shook hands. “Good, cause we’re going to need all the help we can get.” “Hey, quit the chitchat, we have more of those Incendous Drones incoming!” Cyborg yelled out from the back of the group. “Alright Titans, I need Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, Argent, Bumblebee, Thunder and Lightning in the sky. Everyone else, we’re fighting on the front lines.” Robin’s voice echoed through the empty streets. “Titans, GO!” The Titans all followed their orders, and Mento commanded his Doom Patrol to follow them into battle. Bushido drew his sword, and sliced open a drone, before kicking down another. Starfire flew over the drone army, blasting star bolt energy from her eyes and hands. Raven picked up an abandoned car, and threw it into the marching drones, and Hotspot scorched it until it exploded, wiping out most of the drones. Arrowette ran through the drones, shooting one don after another. Aero looked like he was dancing among the robots, but as he twirled spirals and strong currents of air were blasted into the drones, throwing them against city buildings. Red Star was blasting through the drones, and Arrowette and Speedy now stood back-to-back firing arrows into the oncoming drones. Elasti-Girl was stomping down on the drones, and around her feet Wonder Girl swung her whip around her head, throwing the drones metres. Robin was making good use of his birdarangs, slicing off the arms of the humanoid drones. There were only twenty drones left, and standing at the front of the assembled heroes were Más y Menos, Kid Flash and Impulse, a female speedster. Más y Menos clapped their hands together, Kid Flash dropped into a running start position, and static electricity started darting around Impulse’s yellow suit. Then all of a sudden, four coloured blurs sped out around the drones and came back to a halt in front of the Titans. The remaining Incendous Drones collapsed. “My scanners are telling me that was the last of ‘em,” Cyborg announced, looking at the screen on his arm. “Alright then Titans, fall in.” As Robin gave the command, all of the Titans and the Doom Patrol moved in closer. Robin and Mento stood at the front of the group on top of a flipped taxi so that everyone could see them. “We are going to have to split up into separate groups so we can get to the bottom of this quickly. Titans West, Titans East and Doom Patrol are the leading groups. If you are given an order by either me, Mento or Bumblebee you are to follow it. Now the rest of the Honorary Titans will be sorted into teams. “Red Star, Kole, Gnarrk, Mirage and Flamebird, you are Alpha Team. Hotspot, Tramm, Herald, Kid Flash and Jinx you are Bravo Team. Sorted into Charlie Team are Pantha, Thunder, Lightning, Wildebeest and Ravager. The following Titans will be arranged into Delta Team.” As Robin announced the teams, Argent and Aero hoped that they would be sorted together. “Wonder Girl, Bushido, Jericho, Killowat and Bobby. That leaves the final team, Echo Team as Arrowette, Vox, Aero, Risk, Impulse and Argent.” Aero and Argent took a sigh of relief, as a high-pitched voice broke out near the front. “Hey! What about us!” It was Melvin, speaking for Timmy and Teether. “We want to help Ray-Ray and Bobby!” Bobby, the giant teddy bear nodded in approval. “Well I guess you can go with Bobby in Delta Team, but Bobby, watch those kids.” “Hey! We are heroes too you know! Timmy, Teether and I make the Kids Corps!” Melvin screamed out. “Uh, okay?” Robin was slightly confused. “All right teams, your leader is the Titan read out first. So to recap, Red Star is leading Alpha Team, Hot Spot leading Bravo Team, Pantha leading Charlie Team, Wonder Girl is in charge of Delta Team, and Arrowette, you are leading Echo Team. Okay Titans, find your groups and await further orders via your T-Communicators.” There was a lot of commotion as the twenty-nine Honorary Titans searched for their leaders. Luckily for Aero and Argent, Arrowette was nearby, so they walked over and greeted each other for the second time in a day. Then two more boys walked over. One was tall and had an average build for a fifteen yearold boy, brown hair and a grim look on his face. He introduced himself as Vox. The next boy was also tall, and had a bulky build. His arms were over two times the size of a normal boy’s arms, and his shoulders were broad. He had blonde hair and introduced himself as Risk. “So, are we all here?” Asked Aero. “Nope one more dude, and you’ll never guess who it is!” Risk was very excited about the sixth member of the team. “Robin said it was some one named Impulse,” replied Arrowette, arms crossed. “Yup! And do you know her name?!” Risk was jumping as if he had to go to the toilet. “Let me guess, her name is Impulse?” replied Vox. Argent laughed as Arrowette smiled. Sero realised something and his eyes lit up and his mouth dropped. “It isn’t, is it?” Aero asked, shocked. “It is!” beamed Risk. “No way!” “Yes way!” “Um, excuse me ladies, but who is it?” Arrowette asked with one eyebrow raised. “Iris West!” said Aero and Risk at the same time. “You mean Iris West. The Iris West?” Vox was even interested by the slightest. “Iris West, daughter of-“ ”Wally West, yup that’s me!” Impulse walked into the group, smiling. “OH MY GOD! It’s you! Like actually you!” Risk screamed, shaking her hand vigorously. “Hey, your hurting the celebrity! Get off her!” Aero pushed Risk out of the way. “I’m Aero, sir! Uh I mean, mam, or eh, miss! Oh I know, my lady!” Aero bowed to Impulse, who giggled. “You’re cute,” giggled Impulse to Aero. “You think I’m cute!” Aero almost lost conciousness as he stared into Impulse’s eyes. “Get out of my way,” yelled Argent, pushing Aero into Risk, resulting in both of them falling to the ground. “I’m Argent, I don’t believe we’ve met.” Argent’s voice gave hints of anger and jealousy as they were spat out of her mouth. “Oh I’m Impulse, but everyone calls me Iris.” She said cheerily as she picked up Argent and squeezed her into a hug. Then the T-Communicators started to beep and everyone took them out of their pockets, except Aero, who didn’t have one. “Unfair, how come I don’t have one?” Aero complained. “Cause your not an Honorary Titan.” Risk mocked. “Alright Titans, we need to get to the bottom of who is running Incendous and where their base of operations is.” Silence fell as Robin gave another set of orders. “All the leaders are being sent coordinates for their team’s mission objectives via the communicator. These coordinates mark locations of greater density of Incendous Drones. That or suspected hiding places for Incendous. Alright then Titans, span out!” “Where are we heading?” Vox asked Arrowette. “Let’s see. We are going in that direction,” said Arrowette pointing down the main road. “What do you think, drones or suspected Incendous HQ? Risk asked Aero, nudging him with his shoulder. “I’ll check,” replied Impulse, and she sped down the road, a yellow streak following her. She returned within the space of five seconds. “Do I turn left or right at the intersection?” “Uh, left,” Arrowette responded, looking at the communicator. Once again Impulse sped off, and again returned seconds after. “Well, there is a great big factory there, looks abandoned.” She said. “So then, I guess a suspected Incendous HQ, Risk.” Aero said smiling. “Okay Echo Team, move out!” Arrowette led her team down the road, as the sun set in the distance.